County Gives First-Round Approval to $1M in Emergency Funds to Ferguson

FERGUSON, MO - AUGUST 11: Police guard a Quick Trip gas station that was burned yesterday when protests over the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown turned to riots and looting on August 11, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. Police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets as residents and their supporters protested the shooting by police of an unarmed black teenager named Michael Brown who was killed Saturday in this suburban St. Louis community. Yesterday 32 arrests were made after protests turned into rioting and looting in Ferguson. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Police guard a Quick Trip gas station that was burned when protests over the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown turned to riots and looting on August 11, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. (KMOX) – St. Louis County gave first-round approval to a bill allocating up to $1 million from the county’s emergency fund for people living in Ferguson.

“All that’s going to be driven through the United Way, the Urban League had to qualify and check all the references and things of that nature, but there’s a lot of things like people couldn’t go to work, and transportation, all those things they’re missing,” County Executive Charlie Dooley explains.

Ferguson area Councilwoman Hazel Erby says her office has received dozens of calls from people who haven’t been able to go shopping, or are afraid to leave their homes.

“I think that’s a great start to help the residents with things that they might need, because they’ve been pretty much trapped in their homes,” she says.